Day 1, 7th Jan: Bamako. Arrive in Bamako International flight arrives in Bamako. You will be met, assisted and transferred to your hotel. Overnight in Bamako. Includes: (D).

Day 2, 8th Jan: Bamako - Djenne. After breakfast drive to Djenne the city classified as World Heritages because of its architecture. The city considered as the twin of Timbuktu because of its attachment on Islam. Founded around the 10th century by Soninkés, a religious city considered as one of the oldest city in Africa. The visit of children learning in Koranic school is worthy. Djenne is very famous by its colorful market and the biggest mud monument in the world. Visit of San on the way - the capital of Bobo land, an ethnic very attached to its culture as they are animists, the mosque a little similar to the one of Djenne, arrival, city tour and Overnight in Djenné (Campement). Includes: (B).

Day 3, 9th Jan: Djenne - Dogon Country (226 km). Breakfast and visit of Djenné, the weekly market of Monday considered as the most colorful in West Africa, city tour to discover some Koranic schools, the beautiful architecture of the city, the biggest mosque, just near the market, built between 1906- 1907 on the place of the oldest one of 1280, considered as the biggest mud monument in the world. Every year the rough casting of the mosque mobilized all the population of Djenne. After lunch drive to the Dogon country, visit of Songo circumcision grotto, overnight in Bandiagara. Includes: (B).

Day 4, 10th Jan: Dogon Country. After breakfast in the morning, visit to explore Dogon villages on Bandiagara escarpment edge long of around 200 km, classified as world heritages on double tittle of nature and culture, visit of some villages like of Banani, Amani, Irely and Terely on the escarpment to discover deeply the Dogon culture, a population very attached into their secular tradition, the Hogon considered as the oldest and spiritual chief of the village, the House of Gouina where the Hogon sleep, the Toguna constituted of eight feet and eight roofs, Tonight, enjoy your dinner under the stars and spend the night in traditional beautiful mud structures at a dogon village. Includes: (B), (L), (D).

Day 5, 11th Jan: Dogon Country - Mopti. After breakfast travel to Mopti, the Venice of Mali for its location between the Bani and Niger River, visit: the beautiful Soudanese style mosque, the fishing port, the bustling market where many ethnic group of Mali – Bambara, Fulani, Bozo, Bobo, Dogon, Sonrhaï, come to trade. Enjoy a sunset on the river sailing to see Bozo escarpment and then stay overnight at your hotel. Includes: (B).

Day 6, 12th Jan: Mopti - Timbuktu. Depart from Mopti to reach the legendary city of Timbuktu, the city of 333 holy, the mysterious city or the doorway to the desert founded around the 11th century by the touareg Imagcharen. In Timbuktu the tradition says: gold comes the south, salt comes from the north, money comes from Occident, but the speeches of God, holy things, wonderful stories can be found only in Timbuktu. The 6th administrative capital of Mali, Timbuktu attracts many tourists who like to discover an exceptional cultural heritages, adventure landscape and and fabulous histories of the city. Overnight in the hotel. Includes: (B).

Day 7, 13th Jan: Timbuktu city tour – festival. Enjoy breakfast at your hotel before we explore Timbuktu, visiting its magnificent mud-brick structures including the Mosque of Sankoré and the Place of Bouctou. After lunch, we drive to the Desert Festival site. Once there, you can explore the area and settle in before dinner. Stay up for the official opening ceremony of the Festival, and then turn in for the night in traditional tents under the stars. Includes: (B, D).

Day 8, 14th Jan: Festival. Enjoy a morning at your leisure after all the excitement of the previous evening. In the afternoon, you can take an optional camel ride through the dunes or interact with the musicians and traders before enjoying the Festival music once again – all night long if you want, You will spend two days enjoying the festival festivities to discover through music, dance, poetry, arts and works, camel races and others Malian culture in general and touareg culture in particular. The Festival is attracting thousands of people every year. Overnight in private tent. Includes: (B), (L), (D).

Day 9, 15th Jan: Timbuktu - Bamako with flight. Today, we fly to Bamako, arrival you will explore this capital city of Bamako situated on the Niger, one of Africa's great rivers. Mali is a country of many tribal peoples, each with your own exuberant styles of clothing and jewelry. Bamako has a large art and craft center where sculptors, weavers, leather workers, jewelers and metal workers exhibit their wares and skills. You will visit the Grand Marché, or "Great Market", where you can spend hours exploring the hundreds of stalls. From carvings and cassettes, to fabrics, beads, brass and gold, the variety of goods is staggering. One area of the market is devoted entirely to traditional African medicines, the national museum, and day room before your transfert to the airport. Includes: (B).

The journey ends here for guests of Option A: you will fly from Timbuktu to Bamako on Sunday 15th January, be met by a local guide and do Bamako city tour transfer to a day room at a hotel before your evening return flight home. Option B adds 3 more days of adventure, see below for details.

Day 9, 15th Jan: Timbuktu River sailing. Breakfast and drive to river border to sail to Mopti. Includes: (L, D).

Day 10, 16th Jan: River sailing. Full day of sailing: visit Bozo fisherman's villages and nomadic Fulani camps along the shore, see Mali varied birdlife along the shore, and very likely see hippos in the river—do not approach, hippos are dangerous, overnight camping on the riverbank. Includes: (B), (L), (D).

Day 12, 18th Jan: Segou - Bamako departure. Breakfast and visit the colonial building then continuation to Bamako, arrival and visit the craftcenter, the national museum, the big market and day room before your departure. Includes: (B).

Price Includes:
- Hotel accommodation, double occupancy
- 2 nights camping in shared tents with mats for Option A and 4 nights camping for Option B
- All ground transportation by 4WD vehicle
- Plenty of bottled water during the Festival
- Meals as indicated in the itinerary
- Dogon mask dance in day4
- Tours as outlined in the program
- Flight Timbuktu – Bamako (Option A) and River sailing for (Option B)
- One English-speaking tour guide per group
- Round-trip airport to hotel transfers
- Use of day room at hotel on departure day
- All taxes and admission fees except Festival.

M20898 is a Mali based organization. We specialise in the area of tourism, television/film production services and event management in Mali and West Africa. We cooperate with international organizations all around the world and with local public and private organizations in Mali and West Africa. We provide tailored...